“Where did she find the strength?”  For those who missed the generation of TV shows based after the Marvel Comics character, let me try to provide a quick summary.  A male scientist was driving with his wife when they had a car accident in which the vehicle overturned.  The scientist was able to make his way out but could not lift the vehicle enough for his wife to escape before the vehicle caught flames.  From there the scientist, Dr. David Banner, became consumed with witness accounts of ordinary people exhibiting extraordinary strength when faced with extreme circumstance.  His remorseful frustration was echoed in one particular segment which started this paragraph in which a mother told the doctor how she was able to lift a vehicle by herself to save her child in a too familiar circumstance for Dr. Banner.  It tilts him just enough to engage in experimental gamma radiation treatment on himself to test his hypothesis – extreme anger or stress can trigger super-strength and if he could radiate his brain just a pinch he could replicate that state.  Predictably, the equipment was given a tune-up without his knowledge so when he zapped himself with the radiation he took way more than planned – thus the iconic punchline “don’t make me angry – you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” was born.

And then the eerie music that always closed the episodes comes on and is still unforgettable – sort of like trying to shake the Oscar Mayer song and for you naysayers I’m going to call b-o-l-o-g-n-a.

My family and I have spent most of this past month on a farm not far from Gulf Shores on a planned vacation that was intended to be low fuss with chill expectations without the anxiety of hoping things go according to plan – we didn’t have much of one for the most part which was the point.  One particular night after a day in the sun we got into a debate about if The Incredible Hulk was part of Marvel or DC (comics); my wife and I were right and as penance we made both our boys watch the original 1977 pilot two-hour series (granted we streamed it through one of our subscription online accounts; again on a farm).  And what unfolded was a memory maker – two adults, two teens, and one old dog crowded together in comfy confines paying attention to the same thing (well the dog was kind of zonked but more on that shortly).  Our boys saw Macs when they were called Apple with Roman numerals, corded phones, and car windows where righty tighty lowers and lefty loosey raises – genius!

And like most of this year our trip was filled with surprises.  I had to send an unpopular email out to lots of good school folks yesterday asking them to modify and adjust once again and it made me reflect on these past several months way more than I normally do (and I tend to perseverate as it is).  Before we left for the farm life, our dog got sick – she’s on the mend a bit after hanging with her horse pals Duvall and Gus but this will probably be her last trip.  We got a call about a lump in the ceiling of our house which proved to be the water bladder that had formed in between our drywall and texture after our A/C continued to go bad and leak, had a flat tire along the way, a car overheat, and ice cream melt.  We dealt with more important lumps this year, we worried more often about our kids, and we saw more homes for sale in our neighborhood.

I’ve come to conclude you can over reflect, similar to if you were to over think.  When I reframe the optics, as parents my wife and I let our oldest have some (teeny tiny) freedom to drive to parts unknown this summer, we reconnected with some of the passions of my younger son and loosened the reins a bit (again teeny tiny).  We’re coming to terms with 2020 being our dog Lucy’s most memorable year.  This is a good year for our family although the face masks sometimes fog the lenses.  We spent our time in Fairhope which seems pretty symbolic in my view.

The Incredible Hulk was a fictitious comic hero – the rest of us just need to keep pushing towards incredible, and maybe extraordinary.